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Photograph of Portville Free Library
Photograph by Pubdog, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Portville Free Library

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1898.

From the record

“Portville Free Library, formerly the Smith Parish House, is a historic library building located at Portville in Cattaraugus County, New York. The original house was built for early Portville settler Smith Parish in 1847 as a two-story, three bay dwelling in the Greek Revival style.”

Wikipedia article Portville Free Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 39 National Register listings published here for Cattaraugus County · listed in 1991 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 2 N. Main St., Portville, 14770
  • When was it listed? November 1991
  • Category. building
  • Town. Portville town
  • Architectural style. Colonial Revival architecture, Greek Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 91001671 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

89 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 89 fires within 5 miles of Portville Free Library between 1992 and 2020, burning about 123 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 10 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined43
Debris and open burning21
Arson/incendiarism10
Natural8
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Recreation and ceremony1
Other causes1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
14 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
14 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 August 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
4 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
25 August 2007Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 July 2006Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
4 July 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
4 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Every fire recorded in Cattaraugus County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Portville Free Library: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Millgrove Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Portville PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Cattaraugus County

Storms near this property

12 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Portville, the town this property stands in, in 12 storm reports between 2000 and 2021: 9 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2000Thunderstorm WindPortville$35,000An isolated thunderstorm produced strong winds which tore the roof off an outbuilding in Portville.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindPortville$35,000no account filed
August 2012Flash FloodPortville$15,000no account filed
June 2016Thunderstorm WindPortville$10,000Law enforcement reported wires downed by thunderstorm winds.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindPortville$10,000The Fire Department reported trees down by thunderstorm winds.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindPortville$10,000Law enforcement reported numerous trees and wires down.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindPortville$2,000Multiple reports of trees down were received.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindPortville$2,000Trees and wires were reported down in Portville.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindPortville$1,000Trees were reported down.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindPortville$1,000Tree down on wires in Portville.
July 2018Heavy RainPortville-Very heavy rain fell between 7 and 10 AM.
April 2002HailPortville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cattaraugus County

Maps showing this location

9 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
William E. Wheeler House0.1 miles2002
Bedford Corners Historic District1.9 miles2003
Pfeiffer-Wheeler American Chestnut Cabin3.8 miles2002
Conklin Mountain House5.1 miles1998
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Complex5.2 miles2001
Beardsley-Oliver House5.2 miles2008

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 91001671 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Cattaraugus CountyAll 39 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.